Ah, January, the month of remorse. After all those weeks of glorious excess surrounding the holidays, it’s time for a bit of sober reflection.

“Especially in the buildup to the holidays, everyone drinks so much, and then new year – well, everyone’s favourite New Year’s resolution is, ‘I’m never drinking again,’ ” says Grant Sceney, head bartender at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Lobby Bar. “It’s the nature of the beast.”

If, like so many who’ve overindulged in December, you’re taking a break from booze this month, you’ll be glad to know that you finally have delicious non-alcoholic options that go beyond the ubiquitous cranberry soda.

After all, the city’s top bartenders point out, more and more people are drinking less for a variety of reasons, ranging from pregnancy to stricter drinking-and-driving laws.

And, as Dani Tatarin, bar manager at The Keefer Bar, says, “The creative non-alcoholic drink lets you be social and control your consumption at the same time without feeling left out.”

Justin Taylor, bartender at the Four Seasons’ Yew Restaurant + Bar, likens it to a restaurant offering good vegetarian and vegan options.

“A bartender with no booze is like a chef with no meat,” he says, adding, “It is so important as hosts of a party or bar or restaurant to take the non-alcoholic drink seriously.

“When we can deliver a delicious, inventive and exciting non-alcoholic drink to our guests, it is always met with delight because more often than not they are left to drink something very ordinary, like a cranberry and soda,” says David Wolowidnyk, bar manager at West Restaurant. “Perhaps try spicing that cranberry up with a little allspice, orange zest and lemon.”

So what are your options if you want to venture beyond sparkling water, diet pop and cranberry soda? Plenty.

At Yew, for instance, each bartender was challenged to create his own non-alcoholic drink; now customers can choose between several options such as a strawberry basil lemonade, a berry and cream shake or a lime, ginger, coconut and pineapple soda.

Taylor also suggests that home bartenders make simple syrups flavoured with fruit and spices, and use them in sodas. “This is one of the best and easiest ways to make flavours to add to a cocktail,” he says.

At The Keefer, Tatarin uses herbs and spices found in Chinese medicine to create drinks that are not only good, but good for you, like the Pineapple Tonic, which is loaded with stomach-settling ginger. “This drink is great for hangovers or an energy boost,” she says.

Wolowidnyk, on the other hand, enjoys serving hot drinks, like spiced apple cider or passion fruit juice. “It’s absolutely delicious,” he says. “The first time I came across hot passion fruit juice was in Sumatra in the early ’90s and I have enjoyed it ever since.”

He also always has at least two non-alcoholic options on the menu, many of them based on fresh-frozen fruit purées, such as blackberry-allspice or apricot-honey-lemon.

And over at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Sceney has mixed up several batches of shrubs – also known as “drinking vinegars” – such as the beet and black pepper shrub, which he tops with soda water for an easy, refreshing soda with a bright, sparkling flavour.

“A lot of people who come through here don’t want to feel left out because they can’t have a fancy drink,” he says. “They want something non-alcoholic that tastes really good, too.”

After all, just because you’re cutting down on booze doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice flavour or the fun of going out.

A shout out the the shrub

If the thought of drinking vinegar makes your mouth pucker and your eyes water, it’s time to think again.

In fact, vinegar — in the form of a drink called a shrub — is one of the hottest trends in cocktailing right now, which is perhaps a little ironic for a drink that’s nearly 400 years old.

Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, vinegar was used to preserve the flavours of fresh summer fruit and to add a citrusy flavour to drinks when limes and lemons were unavailable.

Today, bartenders like shrubs for their punchy sweet-tart flavour, which works as well in boozy cocktails as it does in non-alcoholic drinks topped with soda or tonic water.

Shrubs are easy to make and last for months if properly stored. They are basically just syrups mixed with vinegar and perhaps some herbs and spices. The variations of fruits, flavours and types of vinegar are almost endless.

At the Fairmont Pacific Rim Lobby Bar, for instance, head bartender Grant Sceney makes several different types of shrubs, including beet and black pepper, blueberry and lemon, blackberry and vanilla, and raspberry and white pepper.

“The neat thing about using vinegars and shrubs, apart from reducing waste, it’s like using salt in a piece of food,” Sceney says. “It just makes the flavours pop.”

Jitterbug

Grant Sceney, head bartender at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Lobby Bar, created this refreshing long drink based on a “shrub,” a traditional vinegar-based drink that’s recently become hugely fashionable.

1½ ounce (40g) Beet and Pepper Shrub (see recipe below)

5 fresh basil leaves

1 ounce (30 mL) apple juice

soda water

Using a muddler, gently press the basil into a tall glass. Add ice, then the Beet and Pepper Shrub, apple juice and soda. Stir and, if you like, garnish with a thin slice of golden beet and freshly cracked black pepper. Serves 1.

Beet and Pepper Shrub

4 cups (800 g) refined cane sugar

4 cups (1,000 mL) peeled and diced red beets

freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 cups (750 mL) cranberry vinegar (available at Urban Fare)

Combine sugar and beets in a non-reactive container with 15 grinds of black pepper. Stir well, cover and refrigerate.

After eight to 12 hours, the beets should be surrounded by juice and syrup.

Strain the syrup away from the beets, pressing lightly on the beets to expel any stubborn juice. If sugar is clinging to the bowl, scrape it into the syrup. You should have about 3 cups of syrup.

Whisk the syrup together with an equal amount of cranberry vinegar, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Funnel into a clean bottle, cap, shake well and refrigerate. Chilled, it will last several months.

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In Good Spirits: Beyond booze

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